


Better Late Than Never

by sandpapersnowman



Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types, Tron: Legacy (2010)
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Multiple Personalities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 22:39:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/627297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandpapersnowman/pseuds/sandpapersnowman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He isn’t sure if the growl that resonates in the room is more enthusiastically Tron or Rinzler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Late Than Never

**Author's Note:**

> reading [this headcanon](http://sandpapersnowman.tumblr.com/post/31719768432/) is optional but recommended, since it's pretty much what i'm going with
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr mirror](http://sandpapersnowman.tumblr.com/post/39850373022/)

It's over in moments. Clu flips him on his back, shoves a new disc into his port, and the world goes pixelated.

But for a long time after Clu begins calling him Rinzler instead of Tron, he's not completely the Rinzler. He still wants to act out, fight against him. Blue flickers through his circuitry, and the first time it happens, Jarvis is the only one who notices. He tells Clu, fearing what might happen if their best bodyguard became that User-worshipping bug he used to be.

Clu puts his finger to the top of Jarvis' visor and leans in dangerously close.

"Tron was my friend," he growls. "You don't talk about him that way." He displaces a bit of code, and gives Jarvis what should be about the equivalent of a User 'migraine'. Flynn had had one once or twice, the memory still stored in his head.

Even if Tron was his friend, he would get in the way. He tells his guards to keep Rinzler in a secure room for a while, and while outwardly he obeys with little more than a dissatisfied mumble, the faded, distant part of him that's still Tron desperately tries to fight back. If he could get control of the body for just a little while...

But he can’t, not right now, and soon finds himself with his arms and legs carefully bound to a wall, standing upright but with his legs open. For once, he’s in agreement with the Rinzler part of him; he’s vulnerable and couldn’t move if his code depended on it, and neither of them like that.

He isn’t sure if the growl that resonates in the room is more enthusiastically Tron or Rinzler.

He waits, patiently and impatiently, for someone to come let him free, but it’s a long time before he so much as hears footsteps heading his way.

It’s Clu, and Rinzler perks up when he walks in. He steps closer to him than Tron is comfortable with anymore, although Rinzler seems to be just fine. When Clu’s hand slides over his helmet and it retracts, melting back into his suit, Clu smiles.

A gloved hand cups his jaw, and as much as Tron wants to jerk away, Rinzler leans into the touch.

“Feeling better?” A nod, and Tron feels the corner of his mouth that isn’t damaged pull into a grin. “You sure?” Another nod, more fervent, and Clu’s gaze drops to the pixelated gash on his cheek. He runs his thumb over it cruelly, and Rinzler’s head twitches, wanting to pull away, but unable to bring himself to. His smile fades into an open-mouthed, pained grimace, and Clu just presses his thumb in harder.

But the Rinzler is feeling more of the pain than he is. If he can just crawl back into his own head, he could--

His circuits go blue for an instant, then another, then they glow steadily.

He tries to yell, but can’t. He just wants to get one vicious call of Clu’s name out before he inevitably finds a way to shove him back down, but all that comes out is a broken, strangled sort of squawk.

“Hello, Tron.”

Clu’s voice seems to be laced with affection, and Tron doesn’t like it one bit. His thumb scrapes along the edge of his wound again, and this time, Tron gets the full force of it. He tries to jerk away, but Clu’s other hand clamps down on the back of his neck and keeps him there.

“We made a good team, Tron. It’s a shame,” Clu sighs. “I had big plans... You could have abandoned Flynn and sided with me. We could be making the Grid perfect _together_ , Tron, don’t you see that?”

Tron has a set of User words he’s learned from Flynn ready to spit at Clu, but he can’t speak. He can only growl, the low rumble of it vibrating through his armor.

“None of the other programs know, Tron. They don’t know what Users are like, or what it’s like for me to be a mirror of one. But _you_ knew, Tron.” His voice cracks, and for a split second, Tron feels just a little bad. If nothing else, he was right about that; with all the time they had spent, the three of them, Tron was used to helping Clu deal with User issues, bring him ‘back down to Earth’, Flynn had called it once. He was his comfort, he knew that.

Tron looks at Clu in a way he hopes to User says he’s sorry. If nothing else, even if he knew that what Clu was doing was wrong, he wants Clu to know he wishes there was some way for them to go back to that, just for a moment.

Clu presses their foreheads together, his thumb finally letting up on his scar and both hands lacing fingers behind his neck.

“Rinzler’s too obedient. He doesn’t understand either.” He laughs, hollowly. “He’s not you, Tron.”

They look at each other for a long time, after that, simply studying the other. Neither has changed, not like Flynn began to, but there’s still something different. Clu’s brilliant gold circuits, the way he breathes like a User, even though he’s tried impossibly hard to go through the motion in the same rhythmic cycle Programs do; he still has heaving breaths, or unpredictable little hitches that give away just how much he misses Tron.

And Tron... He has his scar. The newfound defiance set deep in his eyes, even when they’re both as relaxed as they’ll ever be again.

Tron shuts his eyes and tries to soak it in, this one last moment where he’s not a slave and Clu isn’t a villain. He’s almost human, so _close_ to being a User, and while it has its perks, it’s still not... Natural.

They both hear Jarvis calling for Clu, probably wondering why he’s taken so long, and Clu reluctantly pulls away from Tron.

“Goodbye,” Clu mouths, his hand closing around his throat and doing something to his code. Rinzler is back in control by the time Jarvis turns the corner, and Tron is barely aware of himself.

“Everything alright, sir?”

Clu nods. “Another millicycle, just to make sure.”

They leave, Clu looking back at the Rinzler one last time before letting the door shut behind him.

True to his word, one millicycle later, Clu is striding confidently up to his old friend.

“Rinzler?” he questions. He gets an affirmative hum. “Feeling better?” Another hum. Calm, more patient. He’s almost certain it’s just his Rinzler, but he has to make sure. Clu removes the program’s helmet, fingers stroking over his wound. He flinches, but doesn’t struggle.

Good, he thinks, faking a smile for the sake of the program that wouldn’t smile even if he wanted to and knew how.

He lets Rinzler go, lets him put his helmet back on, and he falls right back into place at his side, like Tron once did.

**Author's Note:**

> (i really hope this came off well oh man)
> 
> break out the champagne, it's my first finished tron fic!
> 
> *12/29/13 edit: thanks you three for the comments, they mean so much to me and have become something i come back to when i'm feeling down ;n;


End file.
